Breadcrumb

U.S. Households by Size, 1790–2006

The following table shows the number of U.S. households, the percent distribution of the number of people in those households, and the average population per household for select years from 1790 to 2006.

Year

Number of households(in thousands)

Percent distribution of number of households

Avg.pop. perhouse-hold

1 per-son

2 persons

3 per-sons

4 per-sons

5 per-sons

6 per-sons

7 or more per-sons

1790 (Mar.)

558

3.7%

7.8%

11.7%

13.8%

13.9%

13.2%

35.8%

—

1890 (June)

12,690

3.6

13.2

16.7

16.8

15.1

11.6

23.0

4.93

1900 (Mar.)

15,964

5.1

15.0

17.6

16.9

14.2

10.9

20.4

—

1930 (Apr.)

29,905

7.9

23.4

20.8

17.5

12.0

7.6

10.9

4.11

1940 (Apr.)

34,949

7.1

24.8

22.4

18.1

11.5

6.8

9.3

3.67

1950 (Apr.)1

43,468

10.9

28.8

22.6

17.8

10.0

5.1

4.9

3.37

1955 (Mar.)

47,788

10.9

28.5

20.4

18.9

11.1

5.4

4.9

3.33

1960 (Mar.)

52,610

13.1

27.8

18.9

17.6

11.5

5.7

5.4

3.35

1965 (Mar.)

57,251

15.0

28.1

17.9

16.1

11.0

5.8

6.1

3.32

1970 (Mar.)

62,874

17.0

28.8

17.3

15.8

10.4

5.6

5.1

3.14

1975 (Mar.)

71,120

19.6

30.6

17.4

15.6

9.0

4.3

3.5

2.94

1980 (Mar.)

80,776

22.7

31.3

17.5

15.7

7.5

3.1

2.2

2.76

1985 (Mar.)

86,789

23.7

31.6

17.8

15.7

7.0

2.6

1.5

2.69

1990 (Mar.)

93,347

24.6

32.2

17.2

15.5

6.7

2.3

1.4

2.63

1995 (Mar.)

98,990

25.0

32.1

17.0

15.5

6.7

2.3

1.4

2.65

2000 (Mar.)

104,705

25.5

33.1

16.4

14.6

6.7

2.3

1.4

2.62

2003 (Mar.)2

111,278

26.4

33.3

16.1

14.3

6.3

2.3

1.2

2.57

2004 (Mar.)2

112,000

26.4

33.4

16.0

14.3

6.4

2.2

1.2

2.57

2005 (Mar.)2

113,300

27.0

33.0

16.0

14.0

6.0

2.0

1.0

—

2006 (Mar.)2

114,400

27.0

33.0

17.0

14.0

6.0

2.0

1.0

—

1. Covers related persons only; therefore, not strictly comparable with other years.